The Tape
by Chedtim
Summary: "Every weapon says they'll die for their meister. But there was only one who meant it every single time, from the very beginning-Soul Eater Evans. And now he'd proved it." T just to be safe-very slight language. Oneshot of Maka after Soul's death.


_"SOUL!"_

Kid's head snapped up, and his breath caught in his throat at the sight that lay across the canyon where the battle was taking place. A straw-haired girl lay hunched over the limp body of her weapon, desperately shaking him as blood poured from a massive chest wound.

"Soul, you idiot! Get up! Come on Soul! Get up!" Her shrieks were growing in pitch the more frantic she got. Finally, her head hung low and quiet sobs escaped her mouth as she gave in to the terrible truth.

Kid dashed over to his friend, then stopped in front of her, not able to believe the sight before him. Soul's crimson eyes stared up to the sky, completely glazed over. Slowly, the young reaper knelt down and gently closed his friend's eyes, so it could almost be like he were sleeping-if it weren't for the massive amount of blood pouring from his chest.

Kid glanced over to Maka, who was still bawling pitifully. Looking in that direction, he saw yet another thing that made his heart wrench; Soul's limp hand, still clutching the hand of his heartbroken meister to his chest in a final attempt to comfort her.

The sound of more running feet came from behind him; Black Star was coming, with Tsubaki out of her weapon form behind them. Suddenly realizing that he still held his twin guns, Kid tossed them into the air as a silent permission to change back. Once they appeared in human form, Liz was crying and Patti looked more serious than Kid had ever seen her.

Black Star froze right behind where Kid crouched, and Tsubaki gasped softly. There was a silence as Maka continued to cry quietly, not seeming to notice any of them, before Black Star spoke softly-

"He took the hit for you, didn't he?" Maka's sobs escalated to wails.

_ Damn it, Black Star!_ Kid glared daggers at the assassin next to him. What on earth had possessed his dull mind to say that? It was obvious. Every one of them knew it.

Every weapon says they'll die for their meister. But there was only one who meant it every single time, from the very beginning-Soul Eater Evans.

And now he'd proved it.

Maka lay on the couch, her knees curled up to her chest. The last two days had been a blur-she couldn't remember anything. Nothing seemed real, as if it were all just one giant foggy dream she couldn't escape. Denial. It was harsh.

She didn't know what time it was, or even what time Stein was supposed to come. All she knew was he had something she needed to see, and he was coming today. He'd been kind enough to come to their apartment himself.

Her apartment. It was her apartment now.

It could have been five minutes or five hours, Maka didn't know and she didn't care. But Stein came eventually. Evidently, her door was unlocked, as he just opened it and walked right in. In his hands he carried a DVD inside a clear plastic blue case. Stein sat down on the couch next to where she was curled up, and wasted no time in getting to the point. "You know why I'm here, don't you?"

Maka had to fight for a moment to gather up the courage to speak. "His will?"

"Well, that's part of it. We don't need to bother with the formal reading, since he left most of his possessions to you, anyways. There were just a few video games and things he left for Black Star and the Thompsons."

Maka nodded, just staring blankly ahead. She couldn't let any emotion show. Showing an emotion was accepting it, and she couldn't afford to accept the emotions inside of her right now.

"And then, of course, there's his tape." Stein held up the DVD. Maka eyed it from where she lay. A dim feeling of curiosity broke through her emotionless barrier. She looked at him questioningly.

"You probably don't know this," Stein continued, looking at the tape, "but most weapons make a tape for their meister to view in the case they do end up dying in battle. To say goodbye and such. Interestingly enough, Soul re-recorded his about three weeks ago."

Three weeks ago. Just around the time they'd started dating.

Stein stood up and stuck the DVD into the television. He paused for a moment, then said softly, "I'll let you watch it alone." The professor walked into the kitchen, where she could hear him start some tea.

Maka slowly sat up on the sofa, knees still pulled to her chest. It took the tape a minute or so to start playing, and once it did, there was nothing that could have pulled her attention away.

It was in Soul's room, facing his bed. A faint jazz song could be heard playing in the background, and Soul soon walked into the frame. Living, breathing, healthy Soul. Well, healthy except for the large welt on his head that he was rubbing. A ghost of a smile formed on Maka's lips as she remembered that day back in time-a slightly implicative joke had earned him yet another Maka Chop.

Suddenly, the smile disappeared. Three weeks ago. Just three weeks ago he had been like this-sloppy, sarcastic, perverted, and 'cool' as ever. Even a little happy, for the first time in years, as he had confessed to her the night of their first date. And now he was gone. All of that, all of those crooked smiles, sarcastic comments, and cool demeanor, gone forever. Before Maka even had time to register, the tears were streaming down her face.

On the TV set, Soul plopped down on his bed, getting comfortable before looking up and sighing.

"Alright, Maka. First thing's first. Stop crying, it isn't cool." He flashed his trademark grin. "Besides, you can't have tears distracting you from all this." The weapon waggled his eyebrows suggestively and gestured to his body. Apparantly, a single Maka Chop had not been enough to ruin his perverted mood. Maka covered her mouth, though she couldn't be sure if she was muting a giggle or a sob.

Suddenly, TV-Soul's face grew serious. "Well, if you're watching this we both know what that means. You can probably imagine how weird this is for me..." He trailed off, rubbing the back of his head and looking at the ground for a few seconds before sighing and looking back up again. "You see, it's not just weird because I'm imagining...you know...it's weird because it doesn't take any imagination." He chuckled darkly to himself. "You're such an idiot, Maka. Always getting yourself into all sorts of stupid situations...it's only a matter of time."

Suddenly, her boyfriend's crimson eyes took on a startling intensity. "Listen to me, Maka._ It is not your fault._ So don't go moping around like you're the worst person in the world, because that doesn't help anyone. It was _my own freaking choice._ Just once-_just this once!_-accept that and move on, Maka. I'm not around to protect you anymore, so if you go and get yourself killed because of some stupid depression dragging you down and making you weak, what do you think that will make my sacrifice worth? I did this so you could keep living, Maka, not sit in your own little emo corner like...like..like _Crona_ or something."

Maka found herself taken aback by the irritation in his voice, and how true the words he spoke were. He was right, it was pointless to spend the rest of her life crying. And yet...how could he expect her to be able to move on so quickly? Didn't the idiot realize that any pain _he_ would have gone through should _she_ have died was the same the other way around?

Soul sighed again. "Second thing. Don't push everyone else away. Sure, maybe it's not as bad for them, but they knew me too, Maka. Not only that, they know you. If you isolate yourself, they'll lose two friends, and that's more than they can afford. They need you to stuck with them." Then his face went through one of those subtle changes, one that someone else watching the tape might not have picked up on.

To most people, Soul's face was a constant blank expression of boredom, but not to Maka. To Maka, there were thousands of different emotions to be conveyed behind that boredom. Little things like an upward twitch of his mouth when he was pleased, looking down and to the right when he was embarrassed, eyes softening slightly when he was in a caring mood. Little things no one else seemed to pick up on. This time, it was that gleam his eyes got whenever he thought he was being clever (the same gleam Maka used as cue to pick up her book, just in case a Maka Chop was in order).

TV-Soul continued, "Though you can feel free to Maka-Chop Black Star whenever you feel like it. Give 'em one from me, since he's bound to try and take the copy of COD I left to Liz instead of him." He rolled his eyes and smirked, then continued with the more serious expression.

"Now, I'm not going to say goodbye or any of that. Most people do, but...I want the stuff I say in here to be real. If I say goodbye, it won't be real, because after this I'm going to go out into the living room and risk potential brain damage just to get you cool with me again." He mock-glared accusingly at the camera. "You're a fickle woman, you know that?" Maka smiled softly again. She remembered that attempt to win her heart back again-it had ended with her chasing her weapon around the house threatening to tickle him to death. Of course, once she'd actually caught him, the tables had quickly turned.

TV-Soul sighed for the third time, shaking his head with a trace of a smile on his lips. Then he looked up, serious once more. "Alright. To sum it all up"-he counted with his fingers as he got to each new subject-"don't mope, stick with the gang, stop being so damn irritable, and..." He set his hand down, and Maka picked up another one of those little changes in expression.

This time, it was in his eyes, the way they softened. Maka knew exactly what he was going to say next, and in a way, she dreaded it. It was something she'd heard him mutter before, many times, but this time would be the last and she knew it would absolutely break her heart.

"...I love you, Maka." The weapon paused for a moment, and Maka stopped a sob with her hand.

Then he closed those crimson eyes and shook his head again, smiling. "And for the last time, stop crying. It just isn't cool."

The TV set blipped off, and Maka felt the tears she hadn't even noticed before drip onto her lap. She could hear Stein shift from the doorway of the kitchen where he'd been watching, but it didn't fully register.

All those memories, the little things that had popped up during his video, the happy moments they had shared, might as well not have existed. The whole point of memories was having someone to look back with, to share them with, and now that someone was gone and she was left alone with empty old stories her brain kept on retelling her over and over again. For all Maka knew, they could be lies her subconscious created to deal with the pain. Not only were those memories empty, but they just reminded her that there were no many happy times to be had.

Soul was gone.

No more shark-toothed grin, no more dragging an unconscious boy out of bed in the morning, no more Soul telling Black Star that his webcam was broken, just because he didn't want his friend to see Maka snuggled up against him while he played video games. All of that was gone, and it was never coming back.

The denial was gone, too. That was another thing she wanted back.

**A/N: Lol, I've been dead to this site for quite some time now. Sorry bout that, heheh. Hopefully I'll be more active again, since I just got back into writing and remembered the login to my account x3 So, as my friends know, Soul Eater is my favorite TV show. I fangirl immensely over it, and though I usually don't get into pairings, I just LOVE SoMa. Soul's also my favorite character, and after I wrote this I just sort of sat there like "...what have I done?" I might do a few more SoMa fluffs in the future. Might. We'll see :3**

**Oh, and PLEASE. REVIEW. Tell me what you thought, how it made you feel, how I can improve, any or all of the above. .**

**Thanks for reading! ~Mossy**


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